OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of routine transfer of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients to achieve percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in less than 90 min from presentation. BACKGROUND Many PCI hospitals have achieved routine door-to-balloon times under 90 min for patients with STEMI presenting directly to the hospital. H...

One of the most controversial issues in interventional cardiology concerns the meaningfulness of elevated cardiac enzymes after percutaneous coronary interventions. Both single-center observational studies (1–3) and subset analyses from multicenter clinical trials (4,5) have reported an association between postprocedure creatine kinasemyocardial band (CK-MB) elevations and adverse shortand long...

kDepartment of Pediatrics Holy Spirit Hospital Nagoya, Japan {Department of Pediatrics Shizuoka Saiseikai General Hospital Shizuoka, Japan Department of Pediatrics Toyohashi Municipal Hospital Toyohashi, Japan **Department of Pediatrics Miyoshi Municipal Hospital Miyoshi, Japan yyHibarigaoka Kids Allergy Clinic Nagoya, Japan zzDepartment of Pediatrics Gifu Prefectural Tajimi Hospital Tajimi, Ja...

A large investigational effort has been made over the past 30 years in the attempt to identify the optimal antithrombotic therapy for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). One of the key messages consistently arising from clinical trials is that the stronger the platelet inhibition at the time of PCI, the lower the incidence of thrombotic events following the procedure (...

BACKGROUND Rapid reperfusion with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is vital for patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). However, the guideline-recommended time targets are regularly exceeded. The goal of this study was to gain insight into how Dutch PCI centres try to achieve these time targets by comparing their care processes with one another and with the Eur...

EFERENCES 1. Latib A, Colombo A. Bifurcation disease: what do we know, what should we do? J Am Coll Cardiol Intv 2008;1:218–26. 2. Popma J, Leon M, Topol EJ. Atlas of Interventional Cardiology. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 1994. 3. Spokojny AM, Sanborn TM. The bifurcation lesion. In: Ellis SG, Holmes DR, Strategic Approaches in Coronary Intervention. Baltimore, MD: Williams and Wilkins, 1996:288...

1. Steinhubl SR, Berger PB, Mann JT III, et al. Early and sustained dual oral antiplatelet therapy following percutaneous coronary intervention: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2002;288:2411–20. 2. Mehta SR, Yusuf S, Peters RJG, et al. Effects of pretreatment with clopidogrel and aspirin followed by long-term therapy in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: the PCI-CURE st...

Poor health-related quality of life (HRQL) is associated with mortality in cardiac patients. Patients (N=667) with poor HRQL after percutaneous coronary intervention had a higher incidence of early (< or =6 months) major adverse cardiac events (MACE) than did patients with good HRQL, whereas there was no difference for late (>6 months) MACE over a 2-year follow-up period. Poor HRQL remained an ...

BACKGROUND Clinical trials of revascularization have routinely under-enrolled elderly subjects. Thus, symptom relief and improved survival might not apply to elderly patients, in whom the risk of mortality and disability from revascularization procedures seems to be high and co-morbidity is more prevalent. The present case control study was performed to draw a comparison in terms of the procedu...